Health Resources in Action (HRiA) and the Asthma Regional Council of New England are currently seeking Requests for Qualifications (RFQ) from school districts across the country to participate in a new study on School IPM. The purpose of the study Keeping the Pests Out: The Economics of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in Schools is to encourage the adoption of IPM in school districts across the country through informed expectations and decision making about its economic impact and outcomes.
HRiA will select three school districts that are diverse in terms of size, setting and location and provide economic assessments of their IPM programs; the plan is to include one rural, suburban and urban district. This project is funded by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention and will inform school pest management policy nationwide.
The economic assessment will be provided free to the selected school districts and each district will be compensated $9000 for their participation over the project period. Districts will also receive a detailed cost analysis for selected schools pre/post IPM implementation. Districts may request that their case study be anonymous, or may choose to be identified for their participation in this EPA-funded project, but regardless project results will be broadly disseminated. This will potentially include publication in peer-reviewed journals, webinars and case studies posted on numerous websites. The evaluation may help to identify best practices for IPM implementation, enhancements/improvements and/or cost savings measures. This may benefit selected districts when updating or improving bid specifications for IPM contractors.
Interested school districts should contact Carissa Sera-Josef at HRiA by email at csera-josef@hria.org or call 617-391-9469 to confirm the opportunity remains available and evaluate the potential fit for the study. HRiA is accepting applications through October 2016 – applications will be evaluated as they are received until study needs are met. Please visit the Asthma Council’s website for more information.
